I just wanted to thank the author and Norm for the great story and production, both this one and The One that Got Away. I love the unusual styles both of these had. I also like to hear from the authors in the comments on these podcast sites. Thanks again.

OK, I won't go back and Lazarus all the old stories I'm catching up on, but this was the first Drabblecast I heard, and I have been utterly hooked. I'm still working my way up to current, but this was just hideous.
I can't remember the last time anything made my skin crawl like this. Great story.

I agree with the previous comments: Even if this one feels somewhat far-fetched (and laying aside the unliklihood that an alien lifeform would look enough like and have a life cycle similar enough to terrestrial wasps to be recognizable as or mistakable for the latter), I have enough of a layman's knowledge of parasitic vectors to know how ridiculously complex they can be (a great primer if you're interested is the second act of this episode of PRI's This American Life). I was reminded of Escape Pod 112, and would love if vectorpunk eventually became a mature SF subgenre.

This wasp is nasty, at least if you're a cockroach. First, the wasp selectively paralyses the legs of the roach and then, in a somewhat more delicate operation, knocks out the escape reflex. That's right, the wasp performs brain surgery.

The wasp then bites off the roach's antennae and manipulates the stumps to lead the roach back to the wasp's burrow. Once safely back home, the wasp can lay an egg in the roach's abdomen. After a few days the egg will hatch inside the roach, and the larva can feed on the gooey goodness therein. The larva is careful to eat the organs in the right order --- it wouldn't do for the roach to die now, would it? Eventually, the larva forms a cocoon and the roach can finally die. Once the wasp is fully develops it breaks free in a way befitting all the best movies you ever saw.

I don't what kind of girls you hang out with cammo, but I get a bit piqued when a man injects poison into my neck, lays his egg in my belly then buries me alive in his burrow - and I'm usually up for anything!

Philippa wrote:I don't what kind of girls you hang out with cammo, but I get a bit piqued when a man injects poison into my neck, lays his egg in my belly then buries me alive in his burrow - and I'm usually up for anything!

You know, the more girls I meet the luckier I realise I am to have married the wonderful woman I did!

Many species of wasps lay their eggs inside caterpillars. To make this possible, the wasps' have a secret weapon in the form of a dose of virus-like particles that are injected along with the eggs.

Not only do these disable the caterpillars' immune system to stop it attacking the eggs, they also cause paralysis and keep the host from pupating - turning the caterpillar into an eternally youthful larder and nursery for the wasp grubs.

A closer look at these particles reveals that, although they look like viruses, they contain genetic material from the wasp, which is transcribed into the caterpillars' DNA - causing production of the very toxins that bring about their downfall.

Lots of cool and imaginative details in this one. Usually I'd complain about lack of characters to identify with, but I was too distracted by all the aforementioned cool and imaginative details that I didn't really mind. Parasite vectors FTW!

I had to listen to this twice and only felt like I understood it fully the second time. Very much enjoyed it though. No merbabies, and I like that the same author had such a completely different/contrasting tone in these two different stories.

This story was profoundly disturbing, especially when it gets to the point where humanity has basically accepted the new status-quo of complete Tehtix infestation. Usually in stories like this, the end result is drone-slave status for the infected species (I'm looking at you, Mass Effect!), but this story went in a truly original direction in that the humans stay sentient and capable of moral decisions after the fact. The Tehtix can't compel the humans to do anything other than make the choice to live or die. But that simple drive causes the humans to behave exactly the way most beneficial for their parasite.

I really enjoyed all the bonus real-life biology examples shared on this thread. I didn't see Toxoplasma gondii mentioned, so I'll just leave this right here for future readers to enjoy.

The narrative style reminded me a lot of World War Z (the novel, not the movie) with its documentary feel.